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Prohibition

The Cake Walk, Prohibition & John Philip Sousa: Ragtime Wild Paris

November 14, 2021 by Jaap Harskamp Leave a Comment

Daniel Chester French, bronze statue of George Washington at Place d’Iéna, Paris, 1900One of the effects of colonial expansion in the nineteenth century was that museums stopped being exclusively Euro-centered. The mapping of the annexed world was a responsibility of colonial governments which employed scholars to carry out the tasks of collecting and recording. Curators changed their collecting focus.

Works of art from Africa and Pacific Oceania that were looted, stolen or cheaply acquired without concern about provenance, found their way from British, French, Dutch, and Belgian colonial territories to the museums and curiosity shops of Paris, London, Amsterdam, and Brussels. [Read more…] about The Cake Walk, Prohibition & John Philip Sousa: Ragtime Wild Paris

Filed Under: Arts, History, New York City Tagged With: 1870 Franco-Prussian War, Cultural History, Dance, French History, Harlem, Harlem Renaissance, Jazz, modernism, Musical History, Performing Arts, Prohibition

Gamblers and Gangsters of Saratoga

August 17, 2021 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

"Killer" Madden (at far left), notorious underworld figure, enjoys a laugh with a few of his pals in the dining room of the Grand Union Hotel in Saratoga SpringsSaratoga has always been a gambling town. Even before the famous racetrack was built, Saratoga was full of gambling dens.

Many of the early gambling places were run by men who were considered “gentlemen gamblers.” They ran relatively clean games and generally avoided violence or other forms of vice. They were professional gamblers.

Later, with gambling well entrenched and Saratoga’s location along the notorious bootleg trail from Canada during prohibition, Saratoga attracted nationally known gangsters. [Read more…] about Gamblers and Gangsters of Saratoga

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Crime and Justice, Gambling, Prohibition, Saratoga, Saratoga County, Saratoga County History Center, Saratoga County History Roundtable, Saratoga Race Course, Saratoga Springs, Vice

Spiritualism, Temperance, the Grange and More (Historians Podcast)

August 6, 2021 by Bob Cudmore Leave a Comment

The Historians LogoThis week on The Historians Podcast, town historian Todd Langworthy on how Lily Dale in the Town of Pomfret in Western New York became a center for spiritualism. Pomfret also was the place where the Women’s Christian Temperance Union began and where the first farmers’ Grange was founded. And the town is home to the village of Fredonia and the SUNY College at Fredonia. [Read more…] about Spiritualism, Temperance, the Grange and More (Historians Podcast)

Filed Under: History, Western NY Tagged With: Agricultural History, Cultural History, Podcasts, Political History, Prohibition, Spiritualism, womens history

Corinth’s 1919 German–American Club Fire

June 24, 2021 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

Corinth German-American Club ca 1910In the early morning hours of July 4, 1919, a fire alarm was sounded in the village of Corinth, Saratoga County. Many residents thought some kids were celebrating Independence Day a bit early, but when the International Paper Mill fire whistle sounded everyone knew it was real.

The popular German-American Club next to a creek on lower Pine Street was ablaze. [Read more…] about Corinth’s 1919 German–American Club Fire

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: Corinth, Corinth Museum, Fires, German-American History, Immigration, Industrial History, Irish Immigrants, Labor History, Prohibition, Saratoga, Saratoga County, Saratoga County History Center, Saratoga County History Roundtable, World War One

A Short Book On Prohibition in the Hudson Valley

April 3, 2021 by Editorial Staff 2 Comments

Prohibition in the Hudson Valley bookEleanor Charwat’s short book Prohibition in the Hudson Valley, Along the Bootleg Trail (self published, 2017) looks back at the prominent role the Hudson Valley played in bootlegging during the Prohibition Era.

Local producers, distributors and sellers of illegal liquor were overshadowed and sometimes terrorized by New York City gangsters like Dutch Schultz, Legs Diamond and Salvatore Maranzano who came to the Hudson Valley to make money and escape federal surveillance. [Read more…] about A Short Book On Prohibition in the Hudson Valley

Filed Under: Books, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills Tagged With: Books, Hudson Valley, Political History, Poughkeepsie, Prohibition

The Fitzgerald Brewery: A Short History

February 24, 2021 by Suzanne Spellen 4 Comments

Fitzgerald Brothers Brewing Company in TroyLet us raise a glass to beer, the drink that has fueled America since its beginnings. Beer was such a popular drink that most cities during parts of the nineteenth century there were almost as many breweries as houses of worship.

One source lists 34 breweries in Troy at one point. Some only lasted a couple of years, while others endured, even beyond Prohibition. One of the oldest and largest of Troy’s breweries was the Fitzgerald Brewery. [Read more…] about The Fitzgerald Brewery: A Short History

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, Food, History Tagged With: beer, Industrial History, Prohibition, Troy

Prohibition In North Country Project Supported With Grant

February 14, 2021 by Editorial Staff 2 Comments

The Clinton County Historical Association has been awarded $7,500 in Grant Funding from the Champlain Valley National Heritage Partnership for an exhibit and public  presentation on the story of the Prohibition Era in the North Country. [Read more…] about Prohibition In North Country Project Supported With Grant

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, History Tagged With: Clinton County, Clinton County Historical Association, Historic Preservation, Prohibition

Frances Perkins, One of America’s Most Influential Women, Remains Unrecognized

September 23, 2020 by James S. Kaplan 3 Comments

Frances Perkins meets with American workersFrances Perkins, who served as President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Secretary of Labor in all four terms of his administration, is often credited with designing many of the New Deal’s social welfare programs, including Social Security.  As such, she ranks among the most influential women of the 20th Century.

Few however, know that Perkins began her career in the Hell’s Kitchen area of the city of New York, work that as inspired inn part by a chance meeting an Irish Tammany Hall District Leader Tom McManus. [Read more…] about Frances Perkins, One of America’s Most Influential Women, Remains Unrecognized

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History, Hudson Valley - Catskills, Mohawk Valley, New York City, Western NY Tagged With: Al Smith, Albany, FDR, Frances Perkins, Greenwich Village, Housing, Labor History, New Deal, New York City, Political History, Prohibition, Tammany Hall, womens history

Prohibition One-Liners From 1920

August 28, 2020 by Maury Thompson Leave a Comment

The Drunkard's Progress: A lithograph by Nathaniel Currier supporting the temperance movement, January 1846Oh what pun it is to chuckle over Prohibition one-liners published in 1920 issues of The Post-Star, a daily newspaper of Glens Falls, NY. [Read more…] about Prohibition One-Liners From 1920

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Capital-Saratoga, History Tagged With: beer, Glens Falls, liquor, Prohibition

Prohibition Program In Ticonderoga Sept 11th

August 27, 2020 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Dumping beer courtesy Library of CongressThe Ticonderoga Historical Society is set to present “Our Best Endeavors: Temperance and Prohibition in the Champlain Valley,” a presentation by Susan Evans McClure, Executive Director of the Lake Champlain Maritime Museum, on Friday, September 11 at 6 pm. [Read more…] about Prohibition Program In Ticonderoga Sept 11th

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Events, History Tagged With: Prohibition, Ticonderoga, Ticonderoga Historical Society

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